Same As It Ever Was…Same As It Ever Was
RIDE, RISE & ROAR (Blu-ray)
Kaleidoscope Home Ent.
Release date: May 30th, 2011
Certificate (UK): 12
Running time: 87 minutes
Director: Hillman Curtis
Music by: David Byrne, Brian Eno
My first experience of David Bryne and The Talking Heads came not via radio, or MTV or seeing them live in concert. It was actually on Sesame Street when I saw Kermit the Frog dancing and singing to Once In a Lifetime.
In the years that followed I found out the show occasionally parodied music videos that were being shown on MTV, at the time still in its infancy stages, and The Talking Heads, were one such band. The song became one of their signature hits in the 80’s, together with Road To Nowhere.
Ride, Rise & Roar is concert film chronicling the Songs of David Byrne and Brian Eno Tour, much in the vein of Madonna’s infamous Truth Or Dare (aka In Bed With Madonna) 1991 but without the Evian bottles, Vatican speeches or ego driven drama. It’s shot with multiple cameras and follows Bryne as he puts the show together.
We see him in his studio editing and recording the music as well rehearsing and working with the dancers. He talks passionately about the creative process and some of the challenges that he faces with recording and performing. We also get a look at how the musicians and dancers prepare for their parts in the show and we get to hear from them as well.
The concert footage is filmed in colour, and from different dates. Bryne, in his white suit on stage performing, is supported by dancers and musicians in way that doesn’t make them look as if they’re just back-up but integral to the experience of the show.
They give a really great performance during Burning Down The House and I Zimbra is especially memorable with its frantic percussion and combination with modern dance movements. The sound mix is overall very good and captures the energy of Bryne’s vocals perfectly.
It’s a straightforward documentary though and the focus is always on the music and it never strays. This perhaps makes Ride, Rise & Roar something best enjoyed by die-hard fans than the casual or curious.
Even if the 80’s are long behind us, here we see a man who is still making music his own way, David Bryne is the same as he ever was!
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